Hastert to Go on the Offense; Well, He Is Offensive

CNN's Dana Bash reports:

Now just to give you a little context here, what the speaker’s office is trying to do today in the wake of all of these new questions about what his office knew and when they knew it is to try to be more aggressive and to try to go more on the offense. We understand that there was actually a meeting here on Capitol Hill just a short while ago with Republican press secretaries where the Speaker’s staff told the Republican press secretaries that they’re going to try very hard to change the mood, change the atmosphere, go on the offense. And that, we understand, will include at least the speaker making it clear he does take full responsibility for this. We don’t believe — we don’t believe that he is going to announce, though, that he’s going to step down or in the near future.

Democrats like me are thrilled at this news. A combative House leadership with no facts on their side, tacitly defending their conduct of letting a known sexual predator roam the halls of Congress, especially when there is the almost certain possibility of more revelations forthcoming, just extends the debate. Morally and ethically, I think Hastert has to go. Politically, if he stays it's pretty clearly good news for Democrats.

This is backed up by both local polling, which in the race most keenly affected by the scandal (after Foley's old seat), Democrat Jack Davis is leading NRCC chair Tom Reynolds, who apparently first heard about Foley's predilections; and by national polling, which shows that half of likely voters find this scandal to be important. I do want to say that the national polling there appears to be contradicted a little by a forthcoming Pew poll which indicates that this will not trouble so-called "values voters" at the polls. However, half of likely voters could credibly not include any "values voters," so maybe it's not contradictory.

To the extent that this is connected to a greater narrative of inattention to basic needs on Capitol Hill, party over security, pathetic one-party rule, and the culture of corruption and the aggrandizement of raw power, this is a horrendous thing for Republicans to contend with. Patty Wetterling's ad does this pretty well.

I will update as I get more information about the press conference. Looks like we might do a "Mystery Democratic Theater" on it tonight as well.

UPDATE: I would call this Billmon piece important. Apparently Denny's only concerns are political, again. He'd only resign if it would help the GOP. But he has the mistaken impression that it wouldn't.